All the Devils Are Here

My study of the 2008 Financial Crisis has continued. The book that had impressed me the most has been The Big Short by Michael Lewis - then I read All the Devils Are Here by Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera. It blew me away.

This is a methodical recounting of the policies & players that created the environment that faciltated the great housing bubble of the 2000 - 2007 period. This bubble has brought the world economy to its knees and this book serves as a reporting of those events. The complicated influences that created this travesty are organized and explained in this treatise.

According to this analysis there is plenty of blame to go around. Greedy traders, misguided regulators, sleazy subprime companies, cowardly legislators, and clueless ill-informed home buyers all played an essential part.

The authors go back decades to locate the source of the problem; they follow the events from those early mistaken policies clear through to the final act - the near total collapse of the US economy with the tragic consequences resulting throughout the world.

They provide excellent detailed reporting about the players and their companies that all profitted from but also caused the housing bubble that collapsed the economy including the sleaziest - Angelo Mozilo & Countrywide Financial, the deceptions of Roland Arnall at Ameriquest, the meglomaniac Hank Greenberg of AIG, the overly ambitious Stan O'Neal of Merrill Lynch, the greed & hypocrisy of Lloyd Blankfein at Goldman Sachs, the failures of Franklin Raines at Fannie Mae, the foolishness of Brian Clarkson at Moody's, and, the arrogance & fall of Alan Greenspan at the Federal Reserve.

It all unfolds like a Greek tragedy, everything that seemed right turned out wrong; however, and this is unfortunate, the people that caused this mess not only are not punished but rather they are handsomely financially rewarded.

A great review of this book can be found at Falkenblog and not only would I highly recommend the book but I also would direct you to that review.